Improvement in lamp-burners



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PATENT Urraca HENRY IV. VAUGHAN, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF HIS RIGHT TO JOHN W. HOARD, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEM ENTv IN 'LAMP-BURNERS.

Specilication forming part of Letters Patent No. 210,375, dated November 26, 1878; application iiled october 9, 187s.

` thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The object of my improvement is to render alamp as nearly as practicable non-explosive,

whether the iluid be high or low in the body of the lamp, and even if the lamp should be upset; and, in fact, to make it safe whatever may be the character of the iluid used and under all the ordinary conditions to which lamps are subjected.

To this end the invention consists, first, in the employment of a wick-tube, preferably made of glass or other 'similar or equivalent non-conductor of heat, and inl huid-sealing this tube so as to prevent any communication with vapor contained in other parts of the lamp; secondly, in sustaining the whole of the wick at a point or elevation within the wick-tube above un d away from the bottom of the lamp or fluid chamber sufficiently high to insure that' the light' will go out before the tluid-sealin g of the tube is caused to cease for want of oil or fluid; and, thirdly, in the employment of a porous material within the wick-tube, to serve the double purpose of a support for the wick at the predetermined elevated position and also as a barrier or preventive of the outflow oi' tluid from the lamp-body or fluid-chamber through the wick-tube in casethe lamp be upset, and also to act as a check against the explosion ot' the lamp in case the Huid-sealing should fail or be disturbed or broken by reason of' tipping the lamp when the luid is low.

In the drawing is represented, in dotted lines, the outline of a lamp body or vessel for receiving and holdin g the main supply of the huid, and with my invention applied thereto, and which, with its attachments, is shown in vertical section.

A is the wick-tube, which may be ot' any appropriate material; but I prefer to make it of somethinghavin g as little heatconducting property as possible-as, for instance, of glass 5 and when made of glass or kindred translucent material it has the additional advantage of permitting a ready inspection of the height of the fluid in the tube, and also of the quan tity ot unconsumed wick remaining1 at any time. This tube A, as shown, is made of a length suchl that it shall not reach to the bottom ofthe reservoir or fluid-chamber I); but, on the contrary, a space is left between its lower end and the reservoir-bottom, as shown, and so that whenever the quantity of iluid within such reservoir has a higher level than'the bot-- tom of the tube the latter shall of necessity be fluid-sealed, or closed by the liquid. At a short distance `above the lower end of the tube, and within it, I place a porous plug or bottom, O, which may be made of any material which Will permit the iluid to work through its pores, by capillary attraction or otherwise, to feed the wick D, which is entirely above it, but which will not permit a flame under any conditions to pass through it. This porous material may be of artificial iilter-stone, or ot' any equivalent suitable for the purpose.

This tube and its porous floor or support being thus constructed, and the tube heilig connected to the burner of a lamp, and the wick being inserted into the tube, so as to partially or nearly ll the same, it will now be seen that the whole may be said to constitute a lamp within a` lamp; that there is left but little space within the wick-tube for either gas or air above the uid or oil which will be contained therein, so that within the tube itself there is nothing to promote or invite eXplosions, for the limited quantity of gas therein has its direct upward outlet to the flame, and is constantly fed thereto for the ordinary illuminating purposes that none of the gas within the tube A can possibly descend, because the liquid or oil sealing oers an absolute barrier or check; that no gas which may be evolved in the reservoir b can have any communication or connection with any gas or air in the tube A, because oi this liquid-seat ing; that when the level of the iiuid in l) is at any point above the bottom of tube A the latter remains iluid-sealed7 being immersed in such fluid. It will also be seen that when the lluid shall have been so far consumed as that its level is below the bottom of the wick-floor or plug C, then a space within the tube and beneath such plug` is not filled with fluid, and consequently the upward supply of lluid through this porous plug` begins to cease just when the consumption of fluid approaches that stage, which would soon result in an unsealing of the lower end of the tube, and therefore the llame must diminish and soon expire for want of a supply of lluid before such unscaling can take place; and thus there is prevented any commingling or possible connection of the gas within the tube with that within the reservoir, or of contact of the wiel; with either the gas or the liquid in the reservoir.

The essential features, it will be observed, are a wick-tube and a wiel; which never reaches to its bottom, and a porous plug or wiel; floor or support within such tube, and which affords the only communication between the reservoir and such tube.

Any contrivance in and near the lower end of the wick-tube which will prevent the wick reaching or extending all the way down to its end, and yet which will permit the fluid to be drawn up into the wick, will of course keep the lower end of the tube sealed and prevent an explosion or communication outside of such tube.

The described wick-tube may be applied or attached to the metallic part or to the dome of the burner in any woll-known or convenient manner.

I have shown the glass tube as furnished with a threaded metal ringor rim at its top, and to which it is cemented, such ring being adapted to be screwed to the upper part of the burner.

In some cases the tube may reach down to the bottom of the lamp or reservoir, and the porous wick-support be placed at the extreme lower end of such tube; but in such cases the bottom of the tube should be serrated, notched, or otherwise adapted to admit the fluid.

I am aware that the stem or support of a lamp has been extended through the reservoir to serve as a ivicletube, and used in connection with a siphon 5 but such tube had no porous plug or diaphragm.

Any slight air-inlet in the body ofthe lamp to which my burner is applied will be sufficient t0 prevent a vacuum as the oil is consumed.

I claim- 1. A laterally-imperforate wick-tube reaching nearly or quite to the bottom of the fluidchamber of the lamp, and operating, by means of a porous plug or its equivalent at or near its bottom, to retain all the wick above such plug or equivalent, and also to prevent any communication of the vapor or air within such tube with the vapor or air contained in the other parts of the lamp.

2. A wick-tube 'provided with an internal wick support or lloor near its bottom, serving to sustain all the wick at an elevation above but near the bottoni of the lamp and above the lower end of such tube, such support acting by capillary attraction to afford the only means of supplying oil or liquid to the wick within the tube, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In combination with a non-perforatc wicktube extending to or nearly to the bottom of the oil-chamber, a diaphragm of porous material within the same near its bottom, servin g not only to prevent the pouring out of fluid from the main reservoirin case of overturning the lamp, but also to prevent explosions in case the fluid-sealing be interrupted or broken by tipping the lamp when the fluid is low.

4. In combination, a non-perforate wiektube extending to or nearly to the bottom of the oil-chamber, a porous plug within said tube at or near its bottom, and an inlet to admit air into the body of the lamp, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

H. V. VAUGHAN.

Witnesses:

GILMAN E. J Orr, Tiros. A. MILLE'r'r. 

